I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere
in the far south of England.

If not then how many years until this occurs. Maybe not that long.


Steve

Steve Jones wrote:
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere
in the far south of England.

If not then how many years until this occurs. Maybe not that long.


Steve

Scilly Isles?

There have been none here in Wokingham, at least since 1904. The closest was
in 1974/75 when the absolute air min for that winter season was -2.8C. The
median value for that 100 year period is -7.5C. During the 74/75 season
there were 9 days with air frost.

--
Bernard Burton
Wokingham, Berkshire, UK.

Satellite images at:
www.btinternet.com/~wokingham.weather/wwp.html


"Steve Jones" wrote in message
...
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere
in the far south of England.

If not then how many years until this occurs. Maybe not that long.


Steve

Came pretty close to that in 2002 here.

Had 4 night minima below 0c in the entire year. In the early morning of Jan
1st temps bottomed out at -4.5c, this turned out to be the absolute min for
the year.
The 3 other minima turned out to be -0.2, -0.1 and -0.1: one in the Feb, one
in the March, and one in the December.

Jim,

Bournemouth.


"Steve Jones" wrote in message
...
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan & Feb)
where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere in the
far south of England.

If not then how many years until this occurs. Maybe not that long.


Steve

A random look at Scilly minima from January
1974 to December 1978 revealed that the only
month with minima below 0C was February
1978 (-1.1C).

Roger

Steve Jones wrote in message ...
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere
in the far south of England.

If not then how many years until this occurs. Maybe not that long.


Steve

I think it's been done several times in the Scillies (as previously
mentioned). Possibly other places on the Cornwall/Devon coast too. The
winter of 1989-90 at Heathrow came close with:

December (2): 1st -1.8 min
2nd -0.7
January (0) abs.min. 0.0 on 14th
February (1): 16th -0.5
(from Whitaker 1990)

However as often happens, the 'extended winter' made up for it, with 5
in November culminating in -5.6 on 26th, another 1 in March (-0.6,
2nd) and 3 in April with min. -1.8 on 5th. Here in Shropshire we've
never come remotely near it in my time here (17yrs), though it's worth
mentioning 1997-98 when the lowest temperature of the 'winter' was in
October.

I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere
in the far south of England.

As you pointed out, if a winter is frost free, there is often a frost in
spring. To get around this, if we look at the calendar year, Southsea in 1974
failed to go lower than +0.2. Headlands on the west coast of Britain also
stayed above zero (Hartland Pt., Dale Fort, Bardsey Is.). One site on the west
coast of Scotland and one on an island (Islay) dropped only to 0.0. Some places
in Cornwall stayed above in the warm year of 1949 - and probably in other warm
years too.

Of course, winter 1973-74 might not have been frost free at Southsea, but the
Monthly Weather Reports of the Met Office show that there were air frosts in
Nov. and Dec. 1973 so the winter half-year 73-74 was not frost free.
Interesting case of a combination of a warm sea and urban warming effects. I
would not even dare to look up urban rooftop records ( :-) ) but London Weather
Centre must have come close in some years, as has St James's Park.

If warming continues as scenarios suggest, it will be intersting to see how
often the air frost free year occurs. It might occur in the the centres of
larger cities - if only they all still had (ground level) observing sites.
Maybe not this winter though, if journalists are to be believed....

Julian
Julian Mayes, Molesey, Surrey (still waiting for first air frost this season).

In message , JJCMayes1
writes
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere
in the far south of England.

As you pointed out, if a winter is frost free, there is often a frost in
spring. To get around this, if we look at the calendar year, Southsea in 1974
failed to go lower than +0.2. Headlands on the west coast of Britain also
stayed above zero (Hartland Pt., Dale Fort, Bardsey Is.). One site on the west
coast of Scotland and one on an island (Islay) dropped only to 0.0. Some places
in Cornwall stayed above in the warm year of 1949 - and probably in other warm
years too.

Of course, winter 1973-74 might not have been frost free at Southsea, but the
Monthly Weather Reports of the Met Office show that there were air frosts in
Nov. and Dec. 1973 so the winter half-year 73-74 was not frost free.
Interesting case of a combination of a warm sea and urban warming effects. I
would not even dare to look up urban rooftop records ( :-) ) but London Weather
Centre must have come close in some years, as has St James's Park.

If warming continues as scenarios suggest, it will be intersting to see how
often the air frost free year occurs. It might occur in the the centres of
larger cities - if only they all still had (ground level) observing sites.
Maybe not this winter though, if journalists are to be believed....

Julian
Julian Mayes, Molesey, Surrey (still waiting for first air frost this season).


I have been mildly amused by the young lady doing the weather
presentations on Sky News this afternoon. She has been emphasising how
"VERY cold" it will be tonight in the south of England (her emphasis on
"VERY") with temperatures falling to around 2c. I would have described
that as

"not a particularly cold night but maybe a touch of frost on the
ground"

It is probably the case that young adults today have quite a different
perception of what is "typical" or "normal" weather than old farts like
me have. To put it another way, I probably haven't moved on with the
times :-) I do wonder what will happen the next time there is a
significant widespread snowfall over the south of England. As has been
mentioned before on this ng there is a whole generation of drivers with
little or no experience of driving in severe winter conditions. I'm glad
my daily commute these days is only one flight of stairs from the
bedroom to the office:-)

Norman.
(delete "thisbit" twice to e-mail)
--
Norman Lynagh Weather Consultancy
Chalfont St Giles
England

"Norman Lynagh" wrote in
message ...
In message , JJCMayes1
writes
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan &
Feb) where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say
somewhere
in the far south of England.

As you pointed out, if a winter is frost free, there is often a frost in
spring. To get around this, if we look at the calendar year, Southsea in
1974
failed to go lower than +0.2. Headlands on the west coast of Britain also
stayed above zero (Hartland Pt., Dale Fort, Bardsey Is.). One site on the
west
coast of Scotland and one on an island (Islay) dropped only to 0.0. Some
places
in Cornwall stayed above in the warm year of 1949 - and probably in other
warm
years too.

Of course, winter 1973-74 might not have been frost free at Southsea, but
the
Monthly Weather Reports of the Met Office show that there were air frosts
in
Nov. and Dec. 1973 so the winter half-year 73-74 was not frost free.
Interesting case of a combination of a warm sea and urban warming
effects. I
would not even dare to look up urban rooftop records ( :-) ) but London
Weather
Centre must have come close in some years, as has St James's Park.

If warming continues as scenarios suggest, it will be intersting to see
how
often the air frost free year occurs. It might occur in the the centres
of
larger cities - if only they all still had (ground level) observing
sites.
Maybe not this winter though, if journalists are to be believed....

Julian
Julian Mayes, Molesey, Surrey (still waiting for first air frost this
season).


I have been mildly amused by the young lady doing the weather
presentations on Sky News this afternoon. She has been emphasising how
"VERY cold" it will be tonight in the south of England (her emphasis on
"VERY") with temperatures falling to around 2c. I would have described
that as

"not a particularly cold night but maybe a touch of frost on the
ground"

It is probably the case that young adults today have quite a different
perception of what is "typical" or "normal" weather than old farts like
me have. To put it another way, I probably haven't moved on with the
times :-) I do wonder what will happen the next time there is a
significant widespread snowfall over the south of England. As has been
mentioned before on this ng there is a whole generation of drivers with
little or no experience of driving in severe winter conditions. I'm glad
my daily commute these days is only one flight of stairs from the
bedroom to the office:-)

Norman.

Do you really think we will ever see a significant (ie 6 inches or more,
widespread snowfall over southern England again in our lifetimes ?). Maybe
an inch or two but I guess that will cause a bit of a panic LOL.

Will.
--

" Visit Haytor meteorological office at
http://www.lyneside.demon.co.uk/Hayt...met_office.htm "
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A COL BH site in East Dartmoor at Haytor, Devon 310m asl (1017 feet).

mailto:
www: http://www.lyneside.demon.co.uk

DISCLAIMER - All views and opinions expressed by myself are personal
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--

"Steve Jones" wrote in message
...
I was wondering today whether there has ever been a winter (Dec, Jan & Feb)
where the temperature has not fallen below zero. Lets say somewhere in the
far south of England.

If not then how many years until this occurs. Maybe not that long.


Steve

2002 No air frost in Penzance.

Graham